Letter: Law says foreign aid cannot be solicited

Written By:
Donna Bott, Grand Forks |
Oct 13th 2019 - 10am.

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United States federal law (52 U.S. Code #30121) states it shall be unlawful for a person to “solicit, accept, or receive” anything of value from a foreign national in connection with a federal, state or local election.

This law does not speak about “quid pro quo” but states that foreign nationals cannot be solicited to be part of an American election at any level.

Why does our congressional delegation disregard this basic law? (52 US code). Are we not a nation of laws which we abide by to preserve our democracy? Isn’t President Trump’s action, by publicly asking Ukraine and China to provide “dirt” on a possible competitor in the presidential election in 2020, illegal?

Can President Trump and future presidents say, as he has, that they have “absolute power” to solicit two foreign countries to help him in this upcoming election and thus avoid the plain meaning of the basic law?